MixedThe New York Times Book Review... one of those invaluable books that offer a new, revelatory window on familiar problems ... Her book asks the right question: How can we move beyond the corrosive and exclusionary dream of the white picket fence, and instead, safely and happily house all Americans? Yet considering Lind’s adventurous rejection of such a cornerstone of mainstream American thinking and life, her search for solutions is surprisingly provincial ... Even when her reporting demonstrates the limits of many market-driven solutions, this doesn’t seem to inspire her to think any bigger. She doesn’t explore how other countries house people on a large scale, perhaps because many successful strategies require investing heavily in public housing ... Lind exhibits only passing interest in social housing as a solution for this country, dismissing it as a \'one size must fit all\' strategy ... She also overlooks the rich history of middle- and working-class cooperative housing in New York City. Lind works for the Chamber of Commerce in Philadelphia, heading its Arts + Business Council. She is an inquisitive reporter and writer, but perhaps her colleagues in Philadelphia’s business community wouldn’t welcome an investigation of such left-wing traditions.
Ilhan Omar
PositiveJacobin... a pretty good book. It is indeed a political memoir, as feared, but Omar and her coauthor, Rebecca Paley, have a straightforward, highly readable storytelling style, and the congresswoman has a compelling story ... Memoirs put the reader in a curious position, because much of what is revealed is none of our business, yet a narrative quickly becomes irksome to the reader when information is too vague. As readers, we are entitled to complain. In this vein, there are some confusing gaps in Omar’s narrative of her marriages. Still, she’s much more candid than most politicians would be, acknowledging a \'Britney Spears–like meltdown\' in which she shaved her head, left her husband, and briefly eloped with another man.
